Of Egg Groups and Swordfights
by Rulin
Summary: Written for the Smash Kink meme Prompt 'I'd like to see Marth 'babysit' some of the younger characters.' Contains Marth and 12 year old Red 'Dawwww'-ness


Written for the Smash Kink meme. Go there to request and fill out prompts! KEEP THE MEME ALIIIVE!

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Marth really wondered how he had gotten into this. He vaguely remembered something about a frantic Peach and an impatient Samus knocking on his door in the early hours of the morning and... well, they didn't really ask…. More like, they shoved a small person onto Marth, and ran off, babbling some excuse about a doll sale or something.

So it was that Marth, Prince of Altea, was apparently babysitting a small child in a baseball cap.  
Red, he thought, was rather a quiet child. Quieter than even Lucas who rarely spoke to anyone except Ness. He was a bit unnerved at the child's wide-eyed silence, but he decided, a quiet kid was better than one running around and screaming. (Not that Nana or Popo had done so for a few days, but…)

The child in question was sitting cross-legged on the floor of Marth's room, playing with a small folding device and a pen looking thing. He was quietly mouthing words as his eyes flicked across the glowing screen, tapping on the bottom half of the contraption every so often. Deciding to break the silence that loomed over the room for the better part of the morning, Marth attempted to get him to say something. Anything.

"So… Pikachu and Jigglypuff are from your world, correct?"

Red blinked, looking up from the screen to see if indeed the blue-haired male was speaking to him.  
"Yes."  
He replied, before staring at Marth a moment longer and returning to his screen.

Silence settled on the room once more. Quite unfortunately for Silence, Marth didn't feel like spending another two hours contemplating whether or not he could actually get this kid to say anything.  
"Right. How about we spar then, Red? Your.. Animals.. against me?" He asked, kneeling down and snatching the device away.

Red peered out from under his cap, an expression of 'what-did-you-call-them?' on his face  
"… They're called Pokemon…" He finally said, fiddling with one of the Pokeballs on his belt.

"Hmm.. Nice to see you have a voice then." Marth said, considering this as sort of a mini-victory. "Come on then."

--

Marth noted that Red was a lot more talkative when battling. Okay, so he didn't actually speak to Marth, but he gave stern and swift commands to his Pokemon, attempting to better the Altean Prince. No doubt Red had spirit, but at times, his lack of experience showed.  
Especially when he failed to order his Charizard to fly back up to the ledge of Yoshi's Island.

"Good. But you'll need to do better than that Red." Marth taunted, guarding against Red's last Pokemon. Shortly after that, a small blue turtle was seen sailing across the stage and out of sight.

Marth grinned and turned to the boy. He stopped suddenly at the look of hopelessness and despair on the boy's face.  
"H-hey. C'mon now. It's not the end of the world." He said, patting the boy on the shoulder.

"…." Red seemed to mumble something, his head bowed and staring at the floor.  
"Hmm? What did you say?" Marth asked, kneeling down to Red's height.

"… If… I keep letting them faint, they'll get stubborn" The trainer finally admitted.  
Marth sighed, and stood up, grabbing one of the child's hands.  
"Don't worry. I'm sure they know you tried your best. Now shall we go find them?"

For the first time since the impromptu-babysitting had began, Red smiled. "Okay."

---

Marth almost regretted wanting to make Red talk. Almost.  
Around lunchtime, Marth asked curiously about Mewtwo and Lucario, and whether or not the two had any relation. Red grinned widely, then proceeded to speak at great length about Psychic and steel and Team Rocket (whoever they were).

It seemed the child really had a passion for the animals he raised. And, once on the subject of said animals, he could go on for hours.  
"And that's how you can get a Pikachu with Zap Cannon." Red finished, feeding the last of his sandwich to his turtle.

"I see." Marth said, mildly amused. It seemed that he would need to acquire some mud of some sort before his next battle with Pikachu, if Red's 'Electric types weaknesses and strengths' talk was to be believed.

"Why did you look so sad when you lost?" Marth asked, suddenly, startling Red out of a 'Egg group' explanation.

"… I told you. They'll become stubborn…" Red trailed off, looking everywhere but the Prince.

Marth stared at the nervous Red for a while, and sighed. "It seems to me that maybe you don't have faith in yourself. I doubt your companions would suddenly turn against you because of a few lost matches. And besides, didn't you say you had all the badges? I thought they could not disobey you if you had all of them"

Red's head snapped up, and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "…Well… I suppose there have been a few cases where Pokemon don't listen, no matter how good the trainer is…"

He trailed off again, looking at his hands. Marth smirked, and flicked Red's cap off his head.  
"Well, faith in yourself can be grown by learning to fight. Come on. I'll teach you how to use a sword."

--

Metaknight's sword was small enough for Red to hold without falling, and light enough to teach the boy to make use of his size. His fighting style, Marth noted, was similar to that of Toon Link, but with more thought and strategy behind it. He used the trees and the wind of Whispy Woods to hid advantage, ducking behind trees and using the wind to carry in forward slightly as he ran.

Marth also noted that, instead of aiming for the chest area, Red was more interested in attacking the arms, which at first, Marth thought was simply a beginner's mistake.  
As the lesson went on however, he noted that it was getting harder and harder to swing his sword fast and hard. The light, but constant blows to his arms was making it difficult to grip Falchion correctly.

For a beginner, Marth though as Red disarmed him with a final hit to the shoulder, the boy had potential.

Grinning, Red flourished the small blade and did a victory pose. "I beat you!" He grinned, his blue turtle running from the sidelines and glomping him.

"Yes… very good. You did well." Marth admitted, secretly pleased at the ecstatic grin that spread across Red's face.

"Can… we do this again tomorrow?" Red asked hesitantly, grin flickering slightly.  
The Altean leaned down and ruffled the boy's hair. "Of course we can. But for now, I think we both need a break."

---

Metaknight was in a rage. Someone had snuck into his room while he was out and STOLE HIS BLOODY SWORD!  
Now, he rarely got angry, but really, taking an item without permission? Unbelievable!

So far, his investigation had led him to believe that either Yoshi had eaten it, or that a certain Prince seen around his rooms earlier had taken it.  
After cornering the green dinosaur and forcing to admit that maybe the animal had not eaten it, he tracked down the path of the Altean to a large oak just outside Wispy Woods.

He approached in a huff, but stopped to stare at the two figures slumped under the tree.  
Marth was asleep, slumped against the trunk of the oak. A child in red, curled up against Marth's shoulder, also seemed to be asleep, his cap pulled low over his face.  
Metaknight stared a moment longer, before glancing at the sword held in a tight grip by the boy.

Well, the knight thought as he quietly turned and walked away, at least it had not been eaten.

-End


End file.
